Cabinet shelf



Patented Sept. 25, 1934 UNITED STATES CABINET SHELF Harold A. Cook,Westleyville, Pa., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporationof New York Application May 24, 1933, Serial No. 672,590

11 Claims.

My invention relates to slidable cabinet shelves. It is desirable thatcabinets, such as refrigerator cabinets, be provided with slidableshelves which are adjustable in height. Various devices such asadjusting screws, c1a mps or spaced supports on the side wall of thecabinet have been used for this purpose. However, these devices areobjectionable in that they present numerous small crevices and otheropenings in which food, or other foreign matter, may lodge, and thusmake it more diflicult to clean the cabinet. Accordingly it is an objectof my invention to provide a slidable shelf for refrigerator cabinetsand the like which shall require a minimum number of supports on thecabinet walls, so as to facilitate cleaning of the cabinet, and whichshall be quickly and easily adjustable in height.

Another object of my invention is to provide a cabinet having a rackwhich is readily adjustable 20 in height for supporting a slidableshelf.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent asthe following description proceeds, and the features of novelty whichcharacterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in theclaims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my invention reference may behad to theaccompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view partly insection of a cabinet provided with a shelf embodying my invention; Fig.2 is a perspective View of the shelf shown in the cabinet in Fig. 1, thesupporting racks being inverted to support the shelf in its lowerposition; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the end of the shelfrack in the position shown in Fig. 1 with a corner of the shelf and oneof the supporting hooks shown in position for engagement with the rack;and Fig. 4 is a detail'perspective view of the end of the rack A in theposition shown in Fig. 2 with the corner of the shelf and the supportinghookin position for engagement with the rack;

Referring to the drawing, in Fig. 1, I have shown a perspective view ofa refrigerator cabinet provided with legs 11, and having wallscomprising inner and outer metal shells 12 and 13, which are spacedapart and connected by an insulating strip 14 arranged about a dooropening at the front of the cabinet, suitable heat insulating material15 being arranged between the shells. The inner shell 12 includes a rearwall 16 and side walls 17. A sliding shelf 18 and a supporting U-shapedrack 19 embodying my invention are mounted on lugs or supports 20 formedin the side walls 16 and 17, and the rack,19 is prevented from tipping,when the sliding shelf 18 is extended, by lugs or supports 21 formed onthe rear wall 16 of the cabinet. It will be understood that the supports20 and 21 need not be formed in the walls, but may be made separatelyand then secured to the walls in any suitable manner.

4 In accordance with my invention, I construct the rack 19 so that itwill support the shelf 18 either above or below the plane of thesupports 20, and so that the adjustment of the height of 5 the shelf 18may be accomplished merely by inverting the rack 19 in its position onthe supports 20. The U-shaped rack 19 comprises shelf guides 22 and 23secured at their rear ends by a transverse bar 24, and supported attheir rear ends on feet 25 and at their forward ends on feet 26, thesefeet being out of alinement with the plane of the guides 22 and 23.These members are constructed of heavy wire and are bent in a manner tobe described.

At their rear ends the shelf guides 22 and 23 are provided withoutwardly bent portions 27 and with vertically bent portions 28, theends of the vertically bent portions being welded or otherwise securedto transverse bar 24 at 29. The go forward ends of the guides 22 and 23are provided with vertically bent portions and outwardly bent portions30 and 31, respectively. The feet 26 are formed by bending the ends ofthe guides 22 and 23 backward parallel to the main portions thereof.Near the forward ends of the guides 22 and 23 are formed verticallyextending loops 32 which serve as stops to limit the forward movement ofthe shelf 18 on the guides, and inwardly extending horizontal loops 33whichare provided to support a side bar 34 of the shelf 18 at theforward end thereof.

Shelf 18 includes an outer frame comprising the bar or wire 34 formingthe side and front bars of the shelf and the wire 35 forming the rearside of the shelf frame and Welded to the Wire 34 at 36. Wire 35 is bentat its ends to form books 37 which engage the shelf guides 22 and 23 ofthe rack or supporting frame 19 so as to guide and support the shelf 18.The shelf 18 may be withdrawn horizontally from the cabinet 10 until thehooks 3'7 engage the stops 32. With the shelf in its forward positionany load thereonv will tend to tip the rack 19 upward at the rearthereof, and. this tipping is prevented by the lugs 21 on the inner rearwall 16 of the cabinet 10. When the shelf 18 is slid into the cabinetthe bends 2'7 limit the rearward movement of the shelf. If it is desiredto remove the shelf from the rack it only necessary to raise the frontend of the shelf and to move the hooks 37 over the loops 32 until ends33 of the hooks 37* are within the loops 33 and can pass through theloops 33 and thus permit the shelf 18 to be lifted from the rack 19.Fig. 3 shows the end of the guide 22 and of the hook 37 just after thehook has been withdrawn from the loop 33.

The' feet 25 and 26 are in a plane parallel to and spaced from the planeof the main portions of the guides 22 and 23 and are thus out ofalinement with the plane of the guides, and the main portions of theguides 22 and 23 are spaced from the side walls 17 of the cabinet. InFig. 1 the guides 22 and 23 are above the level of the feet 25 and 26.If the rack 19 is removed from the cabinet and inverted, it may beplaced in the cabinet with the guides 22 and 23 below the level of thefeet 24 and 25. It is thus evident that the position of the guides 22and 23 has been lowered by merely inverting the rack 19 on the supports"20. The rack 19 is shown outside the cabinet in this inverted positionin Fig. 2. Shelf 18 may now be placed upon the rack 19 in a mannersimilar to that employed when the rack is in the position shown inFig. 1. Starting with the ends of the guide andshelf in the positionshown in Fig. 4, the ends 38 of the hooks 3'7 are passed through theloops 33 and the shelf 18 is raised at its forward end to allow thehooks 3'7 to pass over the loops 32 to the .main portions of the guides22 and 23. The shelf will now rest on the loops 33 .and be supported bythe hooks 37, the position of the shelf in Fig. 2 being lower than thatof the shelf as shown in Fig. 1 by a distance equal to double the lengthof the vertical portions 28 and 30 of the guides 22 and 23.

The lugs 20 and 21 may easily be stamped in or formed separately andsecured to the inner wall of the cabinet in such a manner that they willhave no crevices or openings in which food or other foreign matter maylodge, so as to facilitate cleaning of the cabinet. The wire shelf andrack are also easily kept clean as they contain no crevices where foodparticles may become lodged.

It is also apparent that the operation of adjust-' ing the height of theshelf is extremely simple as it involves merely the inverting of therack in its position on the supports of the cabinet. No screws, clamps,levers or similar devices are required either to adjust the position ofthe shelf in the cabinet or to remove the shelf from its supportingrack.

While I have described a particular embodiment of my invention asapplied to a household refrigerator cabinet, modifications thereof willoccur to those skilled in the art, and I do not desire my invention tobelimited to the specific construction shown and described, and I'intendin the appended claims to cover all modifications thereof within thespirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, arack including shelf guides, means including feet secured to said rackand arranged out of alinement with the plane of said shelf guides forremovably supporting said rack on said shelf supports, said rack beingadapted to be supported on said shelf supports with said feet above saidguides or with said feet below said guides to adjust the height of saidguides, and a shelf slidably supported on said guides.

2. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried 3. In a cabinet havingshelf supports carried by the walls thereof, a rack including shelfguides, and means including feet secured to said rack and arranged outof alinement with the plane of said shelf guides for removablysupporting said rack on said shelf supports, said rack being adapted tobe supported on said shelf supports with said feet above said guides orwith said feet below said guides to adjust the height of said guides, ashelf supported on said guides and slidable from within said cabinet toa position outside said cabinet, and means including a lug carried byone of the walls of said cabinet for preventing downward displacement ofsaid shelf when'in said outer position.

4. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, arack including shelf guides and a transverse bar connecting said guides,means including feet secured to said rack and arranged out of alinementwith the plane of said shelf guides for removably supporting said rackon said shelf supports, said rack being adapted to be supported on' saidshelf supports with said feet above said guides or with said feet belowsaid guides to adjust the height of said guides, and a shelf slidablyand removably arranged on said guides.

5. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, aU-shaped rack having supporting feet and shelf guides formed thereon,said feet being arranged out of alinement with the plane of said shelfguides for engaging said shelf supports, said rack being adapted to besupported on said shelf supports with said feet above said guides orwith said feet below said guides to adjust the height of said guides, ashelf slidably supported on said shelf guides and means for detachablysecuring said shelf on said guides in either position of said rack.

6. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, arack including shelf guides connected by a transverse bar,meansincluding front feet formed integrally with said guides and rearfeet formed integrally with said transverse bar for removably supportingsaid rack on said shelf, said front and rear feet being arranged out ofalinement with the plane of said guides, said rack being adapted to besupported on said shelf supports with said feet above said guides orwith said feet below said guides to adjust the height of said guides, ashelf slidably supported on said guides, and means including stopsarranged on said guides for limiting the movement of said shelf alongsaid guides.

7. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, arack including shelf guides, means secured to said rack and arranged tosupport said shelf guides above said shelf supports or below said shelfsupports for adjusting the height of said guides, a rectangular shelfhaving hooks at one end eng ing said guides and slidable thereon to anextended position, means including horizontally extending loops on saidguides for maintaining said shelf in a horizontal position and fordisengaging said hooks and said guides, means including verticallyextending loops on said guides for limiting outward horizontal movementof said shelf and for permitting said hooks to be moved to saidhorizontal loops when the end of said shelf remote from said hooks israised.

8. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, aU-shaped rack including shelf guides formed thereon, and means includingfeet formed on said rack and arranged out of alinement with the plane ofsaid shelf guides for removably supporting said U-shaped rack on saidshelf supports, said U-shaped rack being adapted to be supported on saidshelf supports with said feet above said guides or with said feet belowsaid guides to adjust the height of said shelf guides, a shelf slidablysupported on said guides, hooks secured to the rear end of said shelfand engaging said guides, and means including a vertically extendingloop and an inwardly extending horizontal loop formed on each of saidguides for limiting the sliding movement of said shelf on said guidesand for permitting said hooks to be disengaged from said guides.

9. In a cabinet having side and rear walls and shelf supports secured tothe side walls near the front and rear thereof, a wire rack including apair of shelf guides spaced from the side walls of said cabinet, saidguides having outwardly bent portions serving as stops and terminatingin vertically bent portions at the rear ends thereof, a horizontal wireconnecting the rear ends of said guides and having bent portionsengaging said rear shelf supports, lugs on the rear wall of said beingremovable therefrom when the front end of said shelf is raised to permitsaid hooks to be moved over said vertically extending loops and throughsaid horizontal inwardly extending loops.

10. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, arack including shelf guides and a transverse bar connecting said guides,and means including feet secured to said rack and arranged out ofalinement with the plane of said shelf guides for removably supportingsaid rack on said shelf supports, said rack being adapted to besupported on said shelf supports with said feet above said guides orwith said feet below said guides to adjust the height of said guides.

11. In a cabinet having shelf supports carried by the walls thereof, anda U-shaped rack having supporting feet and shelfguides-formed thereon,said feet being arranged out of alinement with the plane of said shelfguides for engaging said shelf supports, said rack being adapted to besupported on said shelf supports with said feet above said guides orwith said feet below said guides to adjust the height of said guides.

HAROLD A. COOK.

